THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE "TIMES" NEWSPAPER. [From Tait's Magazine]

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume IX, Issue 775, 5 January 1853, Page 4

THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE "TIMES" NEWSPAPER. [From Tait's Magazine]

Of these three, (the Morning Post, the Morning Herald, and the Times) the Times is uudoultedly that whose career, if traced down to the present time, would be the most striking and eventful. The pre-eminence it has acquired amongst the journals not only of this country, but of Europe, is now of no recent date, The causes of itr °<U success are not difficult to arrive at. Altho. its founder (Mr. Walter) was evidently a man of indomitable energy and perseverance, — as any man indeed must be to establish a daily newspaper — and although there is no reason to believe it was otherwise than successful and profitable in his hands, it yet did not in his time, by any means uniformly keep ahead of its rivals, either in influence or circulation. Its rise daces , from the management of his son, who assumed the leins in 1803, and by bis independent line of | action, bis sagacity, and enterprise, laid the solid foundations of the vast edifice he ultimately succeeded in raising up. He straggled hard fcr { priority of intelligence, not only against other papers, but against the government itself; and by enormous outlay and great risk achieved the position of the earliest newsmonger. This alone, : it need hardly to be pointed out, sufficed, during ! the war, to secure the public preference of the Times. Steam printing was bis next triumph, won in the teeth of innumerable difficulties, | bravely # OTercome. Whilst pursuing this darling j scheme, his funds ran short, bis men combined against him, he was in danger of personal violence. The project was abandoned, but only for a time, it was afterwards revived and fully realized. A highly interesting sketch of his labours was given on the occasion of his death (July 29th, 1847) in the pages of the paper whose advancement and prosperity bad been the aim and object of hit whole existence. Under him, it .may truly be ■aid, that nothing was neglected ; and in all departments he was equally successful. Whilst perfecting the steam-press, accelerating communication with foreign parts to a degree that seemed almost miraculous, and attending to the commercial organizations of a concern which soon < attained dimensions unprecedented in the annals | of Journalism, be had the judgment and good fortune to obtain the co-operation of very high literary talent. In editors he was as fortunate as in writers. Even those persona most opposed to the principles and doctrines of the Times must admit and admire the editorial skill with which the paper has been conducted from the days when Thomas Barnes first assumed the reins, down to the present time. In this Country, editorial matters are usually myiterious. In Paris, even before the grots infringement of the liberty of the press, writers were compelled to sign their article*, the names of editors and of many of the principal writers of the leading .French journals were as well known in educated circles, as those of the leading members of any learned profession. In London, the case is different, and but very few penetrate the veil that shronds the concoction of newspapers. The rulers of the press are perhaps not altogether unwilling to encourage this obscurity, and to let the incredulous millions suppose that the contents of each day's journal is the result of the deliberations of some grave political conclave. But however numerous and distinguished the contributors to its columns, in every great newspaper, as in every army there must be one person to direct the whole and to secure combined and effective action. No " prentice hand " is that wbich is equal to the task. Great are the cares and responsibilities of the editor of a first class daily paper, all important the duties he performs, and the superintendence be exercises. Justly has it been remarked that " no human occupation requires more incessant industry and rigorous temperament ;" or, we may add, greater tact, judgment, intelligence, and discretion. An editor may rarely or never write himself ; his far more arduous duty is to give tone and harmony" to the whole, and to guard against incongruity and bad taste. If thoroughly competent, in his presence all goes smoothly on, like some complicated machine, kept id motion seemingly without an effort by some cunning workman. With such steadiness and apparent facility does each part of the intricate mechanism perform its allotted movement, that one might imagine nothing could set it wrong, and that its guidance and control was anything but difficult. Intrust it for a moment to a less efficient hand, and at once the difficulty is revealed. Its action soon loses in uniformity and effect, partial derangement ensues, and, were the absence of the presiding genius prolonged, the mutilation of his substitute's fingers, and the ruin of the machine might probably be the result. So with the newspaper that is fortunate enough to possess an editor of first rate ability. His absence can never pass long unperceived by the more intelligent aud attentive portion of its readers. Parliament is up, Loui don empty, sportsmen are blazing in the covers, and idlers lounging by the sea ; Scotland and the lakes, Switzerland and the Rhine, are overI run with fugitives from metropolitan smoke. Who [ better than the jaded editor has earned a holiday ? So he, too, escapes for the annual recreation needful to preserve the health and revive the energies upon which drafts so large have been made, by long vigils and constant brain work. Joyously speeds the weary slave of the lamp to enjoy bis well merited leisure far from the city's din. Well for him if be be left to the uninterrupted enjoyment of the few allotted weeks. What mau is sure of his morrow ? Least of all can the journalist divine what his may bring forth. Before the bright sand of his holiday glass has half run out, some pressing occasion or stauling novelty occurs. Perhaps a foreign revolution, a ministerial crisis ; a war is imminent, or an urgent and perilous social question is involved. Or it may be (most vexatious of all) that bis temporary substitute goes wrong- - mistakes the public pulse — attempts to drive where he should rather follow, or, at most, gently lead. The public are disgusted ; the paper loses credit — on such trifles depend the position and prosperity of a powerful journal. It is felt that one man's presence is indispensable to check the evil, and skilfully retrace the steps astray. Then works the telegraph, then whirls the wheel. From his sunny saunter in Italian cities, or his breezy ramble amidst Pyrennean peaks, the truant is summoned back, as fast as steam and post-horses can bring him, to repair the blunders of his clumsy subaltern — balancing, as be scours the

highway, the loss of half his holiday against the pleasurable consciousness of power and importance. Various points, relating to the statistics and organization of the London press, were elucidated a few months ago by the evidence given be/ore the select committee on Newspaper Stamps — evidence which bas not, we believe, been as yet placed before tbe public in any more convenient form than that of a Blue Book. Some of tbese revelations of tbe Press are both curious and interesting, particularly those that concern tbe Times. Of this Leviathan journal, it appears upwards of thirty-eight thousand copies are daily sold, being nearly double the aggregate daily sale of all other morning and evening papers published in London. One of its managers, charged especially with the superintendence of the finaucial and cemmercial departments, declared his conviction that this circulation might be doubled within a couple of years, were increase of circulation the sole object considered. The stamp on the supplement be held to be the chief obstacle to to vast an increase. This stamp is what hampers the expansive energies of the paper, by compelling its conductors to stop tbe press, when the value of tbe advertisements contained in the supplement are exactly balanced by the supplement's cost in paper, stamps and printing. The supplement, it must be borne in mind, is gi"en gratis ; and at fixed rates its contents can produce but a certain sura. So that, after a certain number of impressions, the cost of each additional copy of the supplement must be deducted from the profit of the corresponding Times with which it is given. But the cost of the supplement — so it results from the evidence — exceeds the profit on a Times, and hence a positive loss to the proprietors. Although very clearly put and exemplified by tbe witness, these facts puzzled some of the Manchester men on the Committee, who bad difficulty in comprehending the possibility of loss by the large sale of f.n article of which a smaller sale yie'dsd c great profit. A double supplement, having a penny stamp, invariably leaves a loss, the set-off against which is the larger profit upon the paper on those occasions — not very frequent — when no supplement is given. Those are ths profitable days, when half the double sheet is packed full of advertisements. Then of course the more copies sold the better, there being a positive profit on the price of every one. Occasionally, when events of great public interest occur, the Times, published without a supplement, sells to an enormous extent. On the Ist of May, 1851, the opening day of the Great Exhibition, 50,000 copies were printed, and tbe publication was stopped only because there was not time to produce more ; tbe day wa* not long enough. It so happened, however, a newspaper agent deposed — a man who transmits tc tbe provinces oneseventh of all the London daily papers published — that on the Ist of May the Times was later than usual in going to press, (a circumstance that might have its origin in various slight accidents,) so that part of the additional supply was too late for tbe morning trains, and consequently useless. This leads us to the manner in wbicb the sale is kept within profitable limits. Tbe paper is valueless after a certain hour, so that there is nothing to do to check the sale but slacken the rate of printing or delivery. The influx ot advertisements is tremendous. From 20 to 30 columns, the Committee vrere informed, were daily ezcluded at that season of the year, (May.) It is clearly shown, by this part of its manager's evidence, that the Times involuniaiily plays the part of the dog in the manger, appropriating that " which not enriches it,,' but whose want makes others " poor indeed." Tbe supplement, if divided amongst the Daily News, Herald, Chronicle and Post, a page a-piece, would make the fortunes of those papers. Thrust upon tbe Times, the plethora of wealth causes a positive loss. It were not uninteresting to examine in detail tbe causes of this marked preference of the public for the Times, as a medium of advertisement. Doubtless, in the first instance, advertisements are attracted to a paper in proportion to its known circulation and popularity. Then there is a re-action, and the circulation increases by reason of the numerous advertisements. We have already adverted to the causes of tbe first rise of the Times to its snpremacy in the London press. The lion's share of advertisements, for which it was originally indebted to tbe assumption of a perfectly independent tone, thereby addressing itself to tbe largest number of readers in the country — to its early information, and able management, has, doubtless, contributed in no mean degree, to maintain it in its high position, and further to increase its circulation to the most extended limit compatible with the necessity of stamped supplements.